Saturday, December 27, 2008

Thanks so much for all of you who gave me advice on the binding tape color. It seems the polka dots border looked like black/white in the last post, but it's actually dark brown/white. I ended up with brown/whiteplaid fabric to make binding out of.

I really wanted to do machine-quilting for this,but I was way too intimidated with the thought that Icould ruin the patchwork pattern by stretching all over.I attempted at "stitch in the ditch" along the seamsat first, but even that did warp the top layer, soI decided to do hand-quilting along the polka dots borders.

I am very happy about how this backing turned out.If you feel like there should be pockets to putcolored pencils, I feel the same way ;)I see the colored pencil rolls everywhere in theblogsphere. I believe they are all made based on thetutorial in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.I snatched this great idea from the book too.It was so much fun to pick out the fabric to create this layer.

I tried double-binding for the first time and I loved it.It is such an easy way to make binding tapes and to attach to the quilt edges. Even working on the corners was easy.Some of the links that helped me learn this way of binding areAmandajean's binding tutorial as well as this YouTube video.Thanks so much for the great tutorials!!I know I'll choose double-binding for any binding from now on.

Smile;) I made this fabric label using printable fabric.Nice to see my own name on my own creations...;)

Now that I am comfortable with binding and I have lotsof time to sew, I am confident that my next posting isgoing to be about my penguin quilt completed.

I am leaving for a trip to L.A. tomorrow and will beback on New Year eve, so I won't see you until the next year here. Have a happy New Year, happy sewing + quilting!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! My name is Ayumi. I love sharing my crafty journal and other little anecdotes in my life here. I am a mother to a baby girl and a wife to my husband from Seattle. We live in a small apartment in Tokyo. I hope you enjoy being here :) Welcome♪